Leona Maguire trending in right direction as she heads for Singapore

Leona Maguire’s early-season global itinerary moves her on to Singapore for this week’s HSBC Women’s World Championship – with Lexi Thompson the only player from the world’s top-10 not teeing up – and the Cavan golfer is trending nicely heading into the limited field event which has no cut.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever done that before,” said Maguire of going bogey-free in three rounds of her tied-sixth finish behind Lilia Vu in the Honda LPGA Thailand tournament, before heading on to Singapore with momentum for what will be her last event of the Asian Swing. Her next competitive outing after that is the defence of the LPGA Drive On Championship in Arizona at the end of March.

Maguire – who has finished tied-sixth, tied-40th and tied-ninth in her three outings so far this season – remains number 11 in the world rankings and heads into the Singapore event in good form:

“I’m just trying to finetune everything . . . it [my game] is solid and my short game is really tidy. I like these two events [in Thailand and Singapore]. I like the food. It’s not too hot this year, which is nice. I really enjoyed Singapore least year, I’m looking forward to the week.

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Maguire had a top-15 finish in the tournament at Sentosa Golf Club last year.

Donegal clubs’ new reciprocal agreement

As clever ideas go, the one conceived by four enterprising clubs in Donegal certainly shows the benefit of great minds thinking alike!

The four clubs – Cruit Island, Gaoth Dobhair (which celebrates its centenary this year), Cloughaneely and Dunfanaghy – have linked together to form a special reciprocal agreement where their members may play at the neighbouring clubs for a reduced green fee all year of just €15 per person.

“It is very important to strengthen and develop links with our neighbouring clubs and establishing this special reciprocal agreement will be of advantage to all the golf clubs this year and beyond. It is great to offer good value locally for golf, especially in these difficult financial times,” said Seán Ó Gallchóir, club secretary at Cloughaneely, of the initiative.

Word of Mouth

“I basically just blacked out and tried to birdie every single hole. If I didn’t [birdie], just move on and try again. I got into the scoring tent and didn’t know what I shot” – American Lilia Vu on a closing bogey-free 64 – which included just 21 putts – to come from six shots back to win the Honda LPGA Thailand tournament, her breakthrough win on the LPGA Tour.

By the Numbers: $4.75 million

That’s the pay-day (for individual and team success) that Charles Howell III scooped for his win in the LIV Mayakoba tournament in Mexico, which was his sixth start on the breakaway circuit. By contrast, Howell’s total winnings for the three career successes he enjoyed on the PGA Tour was $2.75m.

“I don’t think you ever see a win coming. I’ve played a lot of golf tournaments in my life and I haven’t won a lot of them. You have the doubts and the feelings, ‘will you ever win again?’” – Howell said of getting that winning feeling back.

On this day: February 28th, 1999

There was a time in his fledgling professional career that Gabriel Hjertstedt slept in his car overnight in order to save his money.

By the time he reached the PGA Tour, however, the Swede could afford quite a different lifestyle and his win in the Tucson Open – beating Tommy Armour III in a playoff – earned him a pay-day of $495,000.

Hjertstedt had destiny in his own hands when he reached the 18th tee in the final round, where he held a two-stroke lead. But he ran up a double-bogey six on the closing hole to sign for a 68 that left him tied with Armour on 16-under-par 276.

So it was that just minutes after that calamitous finish he was back on the same tee box.

“I was thinking when I stood on the tee of the playoff hole, ‘Let’s do it right this time’,” recalled Hjertstedt, who played the tough hole – with water lining each side of the fairway – to perfection, hitting his approach to 25 feet and sinking the birdie putt to win at the first hole of sudden death and to claim his second PGA Tour title.

Twitter Twaddle

Now this is rich coming from the most immature player I’ve ever witnessed!! Sergio Garcia says Rory McIlroy is ‘lacking maturity’ over LIV Golf comments – Nick Faldo squarely on McIlroy’s side of the spat between the former European Ryder Cup team-mates.

I’ve known @SiemMarcel for years. Seen the work he has put in. This is one of those moments in golf that everyone should treasure. Because what you see is a man that is so deserving of success. A very special win for a top guy @DPWorldTour – Thomas Bjorn tipping the cap to the German after Siem ended an eight-year win drought on tour by claiming the Hero Indian Open.

Some good and bad this week. Changed the lies on my irons after Friday’s play to more upright. Definitely improved my strike but sometimes a loss of momentum/confidence in a give week can be hard to turn around. Hopefully next will be a fresh start – Pádraig Harrington after a disappointing tied-60th place finish in the Honda Classic. He is in the field for this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Know the Rules

Q A player realises that their putter shaft became bent when they slammed it into the ground after scoring an eight on the previous hole. They want to continue to use the club with the bent shaft. What is the ruling?

A Such a situation is covered by Rule 4.1a(2). If a conforming club is damaged during a round, it is treated as conforming and may still be used for the rest of the round.

In the Bag- Chris Kirk

Honda Classic

Driver – Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond (9 degrees)

3-wood – Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond HL (16.5 degrees)

5-wood – TaylorMade Stealth (18 degrees)

Irons – Callaway Apex Pro 2021 (4), Callaway Apex MB 2018 (5-9)

Wedges – Callaway Jaws Raw (46 and 50 degrees), Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (56 and 60 degrees)

Putter – Odyssey White Hot OG #5

Ball – Titleist ProV1x